


Fade Away

by Lytri



Series: Stories I May or May Not Expand On [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: But only to Teen and Up at most, Drabble Collection, Gen, Ghosts, I don't think this is angst just a bit sad?, No Romance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV First Person, Present Tense, Rating May Change, Unreliable Narrator, WIP, Will Add More Drabbles, Young Child's POV, i'm not certain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24167503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lytri/pseuds/Lytri
Summary: Everywhere Naruto went the not-people were always there. Most never stayed for long, but then there were some that did.(I don't really know how summaries work for First POV stories. Is a 3rd POV summary fine?)
Series: Stories I May or May Not Expand On [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1923274
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	Fade Away

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this for a bit. It's very different from my typical style and what I write about, but I wanted to experiment with writing. 
> 
> I probably will add more to this (at some point), because I do want to go further with this, but not as a new chapter. I like the drabble format it has now and would rather stack onto the existing chapter. If I do make any major updates (I'll probably add drabbles in bulk) I guess I'll just add another chapter to say more drabbles have been added or something.

**I.**

They were here again. They always were there, no matter where I go. 

I don’t know what to call them, so I usually stick with ‘not-people.’ They don’t look anything at all like the people in the village. They always look _funny_ , and I don’t mean the haha kind. They come in a lot of different colours, from white to grey to black, and their bodies are strange, all twisted and bent weirdly. 

They never speak. Or make much noise at all. I’ve tried many times to get them to react to me. It doesn’t usually work. But then again, I can’t usually get normal people to react to me. Except for a few. 

There _are_ some that make noises though, and I mean a _lot_ of noises. Sometimes they make these weird, panting sounds, like a dog. Or strange groaning sounds, like _Jiji_ when I cause too much trouble. And sometimes they make sounds I’ve never heard before. I don’t know what it would be called. 

Some of them don’t cause any trouble. They just wander around, bringing an uncomfortable, mis-er-a-ble - _Jiji_ taught me that word! - feeling wherever they go. 

But not all of them are nice. Some of them are really, really mean. They like to do _nasty_ pranks. Not like _my_ pranks, but really, really nasty and mean pranks. They remind me of the people in the village the most. 

I remember when I saw one of the mean ones in the village before. They looked really sad at first, and they looked really hurt too. Not like the I’m-going-to-cry kind of hurt, but the my-bones-are-broken kind of hurt. Because their arms were bent inwards. They also looked sick. They were very grey, and they had black bags under their eyes like _Jiji_ sometimes does. 

They were a bit see through too. 

But then, one of the men from the village made a loud, hurt sound. He sounded a bit like the one time I saw one of the ninja people kill a rabbit. 

When I looked over I saw that a cart had fallen on the villager. It was a very heavy looking cart, and it was missing a wheel. The villager was still making loud, hurt sounds.

It looked like an accident, but I knew better. The not-person was standing right next to the hurt villager. They were smiling with only half their mouth. They were also holding the cart wheel in their hand. 

I tried to tell the villagers that the not-person had done it, but they didn’t believe me. No one did. They actually thought that I had something to do with the fallen cart. The villagers wore those half-mouth smiles just like the not-person and threw rockets at me. 

I had to run away then. I don’t know what happened to the not-person after that. 

That was the last time I spoke about the strange people hanging around the village. 

**II.**

The pretty _nee-chan_ is back. She has really pretty black hair, and really pretty, brown eyes, and a really pretty, red kimono with purple butterflies on it. They look very real, like they were going to fly off her kimono at any second. 

The pretty _nee-chan_ looks like she’s going to fly away too. I’ll be really sad when she does. 

I’m not sure how old she is. She’s _way_ older than me. But she doesn’t look like one of those old adults. She doesn’t look as tired and mean enough. 

She’s been hanging around the park, lately. She’s always there at exactly the same time, always six-thirty at night. I don’t know why, though. Maybe that’s when she doesn’t have to work anymore?

I’ve been meeting with her at the park for four days, and now we’re the bestest of friends. 

She’s really kind, even though she never says anything. But it’s alright. She always listens to what I have to say. And sometimes she gives me candy too. No one's ever given me candy before. Not even _Jiji._

The only thing is that sometimes she gets really sad. She doesn’t listen to me when she’s like that. Her eyes go all unfocused, and sometimes there are even tears. 

_Nee-chan’s_ tears are really strange. They’re always a dark red, like blood. But they never stain her cheeks red once they dry, so I think it might just be me imagining things. I do that a lot. 

A pool of the same, darkish red appears under her as well whenever she gets really sad, and it always disappears once she stops crying. 

I don’t like seeing _nee-chan_ like that. She always makes me want to cry with her. But her really sad moments never last too long, and afterwards she gives me this really kind smile and offers me pretty, small flowers or candy. 

I always try to comfort her after she’s done being sad. I usually tell her about my life. I’ve told her all about where to get the best ramen, and where to find the prettiest flowers, and even where I keep my hidden stash of other people's lost and discarded things. I've never told anyone about that before her. 

I don’t tell her about the strange people I see, though. I don’t want her to leave me too soon.

**III.**

‘ _Yūrei,_ ’ an old woman with blank looking eyes told me. 

‘What?’ I ask, surprised that someone from the village was actually talking to me. But the woman _was_ blind, so that was probably the reason. 

‘It is _Yūrei_ you glimpse, watcher of the lost ones.’

I don’t know what she’s talking about. She speaks a bit like how _Jiji_ does sometimes, especially when he doesn’t want me to know what he’s saying. 

‘What?’ I ask again. 

‘Those figures you see, human yet not, living yet not, real yet not.’

I look at her in distrust. I think I know what she’s talking about. Is she looking to hurt me? Was she there when the cart fell on that villager? Did she hear me try to convince the villagers that there was someone that made the cart fall?

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ I lie. 

‘Don’t lie to me, child blessed by the moon and cursed by the tides. I know very well of the gift you possess. Few know the method to see beyond, yet you were given the gift at birth.’ 

The old woman looks at me with her blank eyes. 

‘Those people you see, so strange and capricious, are what you call _Yūrei._ ’

‘ _Yūrei?_ ’ I repeat.

‘Yes, _Yūrei._ Those who passed away, but are still shackled to the living. Never forget, for they never forget you.’

**IV.**

‘Who are you?’ I ask the strange man, a ninja. I can’t decide if he’s old or young. He looks young but his hair is grey and his one eye is all tired and droopy. He’s also wearing a mask over his mouth. 

But all of that doesn’t matter. What matters is that he’s in my spot. No one should know about my secret spot. 

I don’t like him being in my spot. 

The man glances over his orange book at me. He doesn’t say anything, just stares at me before looking back at his book and flipping a page. A creepy giggle comes out of his mouth. 

‘Hey! I said who are you?’ I repeat, annoyed that he’s ignoring me, but I should have known that this would happen. ‘This is my spot!’

He continues to ignore me, flipping another page and giving another creepy giggle. A blush appears from under his mask. 

I think _Jiji_ once warned me about people like him. I only listened to about half of what _Jiji_ was saying, but he said that I should avoid people like this man. 

I start backing up slowly.

‘Are you . . . are you one of those _perverts_ that _Jiji_ was talking about? I’ll scream. I’ll scream until my throat hurts. Don’t think I won’t do it. I-I will!’

The man chokes, looking back up at me. His book disappears and he puts his hands up.

‘Wait wait wait, kid. I’m not a pervert.’

‘That’s what a pervert would say.’

‘Well, yes . . . but I’m not one.’

Suddenly I notice that there’s another person at my spot. It’s a man who also has grey hair, but he’s older than the masked pervert. He’s still not as wrinkly as _Jiji_ . I don’t think anyone is as wrinkly as _Jiji_ \- though don’t tell anyone I said that. 

I puff up my cheeks. ‘How many people did you bring to my spot?’ Oh man, now I’ve got to find a new secret spot. Maybe that giant forest _Jiji_ tells me to avoid would work. 

‘Huh?’ 

I point at the other grey haired man. 

The pervert looks back and then at me. ‘There’s nothing there, kid.’

‘But…’

The other grey haired man just shakes his head. His eyes are sad. 

**V.**

He’s staring at me again. 

Recently the grey haired man has been following me. Not the masked pervert but the older one with sad eyes. The one who’s a not-person. 

When I was with the masked pervert I didn’t realise he was one of the not-people. He’s very pale, almost grey like his hair, but a lot of people are pale in the village, especially the red-eyed villagers. And he isn’t bent in weird ways like the other not-people. 

But no one else can see him and there’s a long cut on his stomach that doesn’t bleed. 

I don’t know what he wants with me. It’s the first time a not-person paid attention to me so much. Usually they do their own thing and ignore me like everyone else. 

I kind of wish he would ignore me. I see him everywhere, and he just keeps _looking_ at me. I think he and the pervert are related because they’re both perverts. And they look alike, too. 

I can’t do anything about the older pervert, though, because I’m the only one that can see him. 

I look at my ramen. I want to ignore him and go back to eating, but I can’t. So I turn and stare back at him too. His eyes are still sad, like always. 

I wave. 

He doesn’t wave back. He never does. 

**VI.**

Shika likes to watch the clouds. I don’t see how it could be any fun, but I still watch the clouds with him. 

There’s something about Shika’s eyes. Something soft, even if everyone else says his eyes look lazy. 

He’s the only one I would trust my biggest secret with. 

I never can say anything, though. 

**VII.**

A new person moved in next door. No one’s ever lived next to me before. No one wants to be next to the demon kid. 

My neighbour is an old man. He’s quiet, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him go outside. He’s very sol-i-tar-y - I think that’s the word Shika used - and prefers being inside. 

I don’t understand that. I can’t live without going outside. And I’ll never be a ninja if I don’t go outside either. 

I haven’t talked to my neighbour yet, but I don’t want to scare him away. For the first time another person will live next to me and he doesn’t even look at me with mean eyes. I don’t want to ruin that. 

Even if we never talk or see each other it’s nice to not be alone. 

I have _Jiji_ and Shika and Iruka, but I can’t see them everyday. With my neighbour I know they’ll be there whenever I return home. 

And I guess the older grey haired pervert counts too. He’s usually there when I come back home as well. 

Is this what having a family is like?

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: While I will retain some Japanese words and terms it will mostly be for retaining a certain feeling or if the word is weird to translate. No offence to people who do this, but I really dislike when there are a lot of Japanese terms in a fic when it can be substituted out for an English word without losing the feeling. It's hard to explain, and this may just be my needless nitpicking, but it just kind of bothers me when I'm suddenly hit with things like 'hai' 'iie' 'souka' 'nani' for (what looks to me as) no reason.
> 
> I hope the use of the Japanese terms in this fic doesn't seem too obtrusive. I decided to retain honorifics and things like the Hokage's name ( _Jiji _) even though it can be easily translated to Gramps or Grandpa because it is a nickname, and it retains a certain feeling to it since this is from a young Naruto's perspective. I guess the angle I went for in this fic is to write it as if I were translating it into English, lol.__


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